Track Listing

1. String Quartet No. 4
2. Elohim, for string quartet, 2 solo violins, 2 electric violins & 2 cellos
3. Duo for violin & cello (or bass)
4. Duo for violin & cello (or bass)
5. Anagamin, for 12 strings
6. Maknongan for baritone saxophone, tuba, contrabassoon, contrabass clarinet, or any bass instrument
7. Natura renovatur, for 11 string instruments (derived from String Quartet No.4)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #378521 in Music
• Released on: 2001-06-12
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds

Customer Reviews

Mixed results from Klangforum Wien's second dip into Scelsi
Klangforum Wien's first Scelsi recording, also on Kairos, was an excellent, eclectic mix of works from the fifties and sixties. In their second Scelsi disc, they choose to concentrate on works for strings.

First off, the Fourth String Quartet, generally accepted as one of Scelsi's finest works. Here the Klangforum are in direct competition with the Arditti Quartet's complete set of quartets (an essential Scelsi disc if there ever was one). They choose a very different interpretation than the Ardittis, taking fourteen minutes rather than ten and concentrating on creating a big sound, rather than generating the febrile nervous energy of the Ardittis. I personally have a preference for the Klangforum's way with this work, but other Scelsi fans have differed from me on this.

Elohim, that follows, is a short and rather bizarre work for a small string orchestra. More thematic than the quartet, and less based on wailing microtones, it is one of Scelsi's most impressive miniatures, and a very atypical work--the glissando-based sections almost feel like a precursor of Xenakis' string quartet Tetras.

I can't say the same for the Duo for Violin and Cello, which I find one of the least interesting of Scelsi's mature works. The floating harmonies that work so well in the string quartets become too bare and uninteresting when only two instruments play here, and the work feels a lot longer than the 15 minutes it lasts.

Anaganim, though, is a much finer piece. An extended transcription of the last movement of Scelsi's second quartet, its fullness of sound adds to the magnificence of the original work, and this is a very impressive performance.

Maknongan is the lone work from the 1970s here. Written for unspecified bass instrument, its intense ritualistic atmosphere makes for one of the finest of Scelsi's late works. Uli Fussenegger's performance for solo double bass--sounding amplified in this performance--is one of the best I've heard.

Finally, Natura Renovatur is a near-literal transcription for string orchestra of the Fourth Quartet that opened the program. It has to be said that the transcription adds almost nothing to the original work, so the decision to include both on an hour-long disc seems questionable at best--even despite the excellent performance here.

Overall, somewhat mixed results. If Klangforum Wien had rounded out the disc by adding a performance of Ohoi--Scelsi's other work for small string orchestra--the disc would have been much more recommendable. Something off a missed opportunity, then, despite the good performances.

the fantastic extended sound of Scelsi's mystical vision
Hans Zender leads the Klangforum Wien in this fantastic set of Scelsi's music for strings. It is a strength, not a weakness, of the set that it opens and closes with the same piece -- the "String Quartet No. 4" of 1964, and the title work, "Natura renovatur" (Nature renewed), which is an expanded version for 11 strings from 1967. By bookending the album in this way, Scelsi's extended sense of time is extended into a circle, approaching Scelsi's view that "sound is spherical" (quoted in the liner notes).

With the exception of "Maknongan" for solo bass (4'05" - 1976), these works are all from the mid-1960s, which I conclude was Scelsi's peak period -- "Anagamin" for 11 strings (8'20" - 1965), "Elohim" (4'39" - 1965/67), and "Duo for Violin and Cello" (14'05" - 1965). The strings express Scelsi's mysical vision with microtones and long, stately lines. Hans Zender describes three essential characteristics of Scelsi's music in the liner notes to the 1999 Kairos disc simply called GIACINTO SCELSI (see my review): 1) a radically intuitive approach, 2) the use of larger units of time than we are familiar with, and 3) an archaic conception of art that precedes the differentiation of different art forms, and also the differentiation of human individuality.

I strongly recommend both this disc, and the new ECM disc, also called NATURA RENOVATUR, which also features Scelsi's string music exclusively (see my review). To my ears, the sound of strings best expresses Scelsi's mystical goal, to transcend the illusion of separateness through one sound. I will close with a quote from Scelsi from the liner notes:

"I feel more affinity for the oriental philosophies that speak against violence, against manifestations of the earthly life on a practical level. I prefer to think and live on other levels, as much as possible."